The returns process has always been a hassle for many shoppers—particularly the task of having to ship something back. Amid the pandemic, these pain points are just as prevalent, if not more so.
In recent months, scores of consumers have steered clear of physical retail locations and leaned instead on ecommerce to meet their shopping needs. But ecommerce doesn’t always offer the same shopping experience—especially when it comes to seeing and testing out the product in person.
So, it comes as no surprise that returns are still a big part of the shopping journey, and a frustrating one at that, according to December 2020 data from CivicScience. When asked about the biggest pain point when trying to return items bought online, a quarter of US adults said it was having to drop their package off at a mail facility. Some 12% said it was the hassle of repackaging the items, while a smaller share (6%) cited the chore of printing a shipping label.